What To Do When Your Anxiety Becomes Debilitating

Anxiety is a natural human response to situations that have unknown outcomes. It boosts your energy and helps you focus on the task at hand. 

But for some, anxiety has a way of creeping into everyday activities, causing excessive fear and worry, hijacking the day. 

At Bowman Medical Group, our mental health providers understand how mental health conditions like anxiety disorders can take over your life. We offer many effective treatments to help our patients get relief from their mental health symptoms.

Here, we want to provide some of the tools available to help you manage your anxiety when it becomes debilitating. 

About your anxiety

Your fear, worry, and nervousness are part of your stress response. Your body has a built-in system that protects you during times of trouble. This system is known as the fight-or-flight response. When danger is approaching, your body responds by releasing adrenaline and noradrenaline. 

These hormones then trigger:

• An increase in heart rate
• An elevation in blood pressure
• Rapid breathing 
• Dilated pupils
• Muscle tension

These physiological changes also cause your body to redirect blood flow to your muscles, brain, legs, and arms so you’re prepared to fight or run (flight).

Once the danger is gone, it takes your body about an hour to clear out the stress hormones and resume normal functions. 

Debilitating anxiety

Unfortunately, not everyone gets relief from their anxiety once the danger clears. Ongoing, excessive fear, worry, and nervousness about non-dangerous issues may leave you in a constant state of fight-or-flight. 

Your constant fear and anxiety may make it hard for you to leave the house, go to work, or spend time with friends and family. Your anxiety is debilitating and has taken over your life. 

You feel alone and scared, but you’re not. About 40 million Americans struggle with an anxiety disorder every year. With an anxiety disorder, you may experience symptoms such as:

• Nervousness, irritability, or edginess
• Impending sense of danger or doom
• Increased heart rate
• Rapid breathing, sweating, or trembling
• Fatigue and weakness
• Difficulty concentrating 
• Trouble sleeping
• Ongoing gastrointestinal problems

If you experience these symptoms on a regular basis and you feel they’re taking over your life, it’s time you reach out for help. 

Taking control of anxiety

There’s no single treatment that works for all people struggling with debilitating anxiety. That’s why we offer many treatments and therapies. We can help you take control of your anxiety with a combination of psychotherapy and medication management.

To help find the right treatment for you, we offer psychological testing to better understand your mental and cognitive needs and genetic testing to find the most effective prescription medication. We also have an on-site pharmacy to make it easier for you to get the medications you need. 

Debilitating anxiety is a serious mental health condition that can take over your life. But we can help. Call our Beverly Hills, California, office to schedule an appointment. We also provide telemedicine appointments.